August 19th, 2019

Fannie Mae recently conducted a survey of recent home buyers asking if they shopped around for mortgage rates as part of their home-buying process. Surprisingly, the survey found that many of the respondents didn’t. 38%, to be exact. Of the remaining respondents, 28% received three (3) rate quotes from different lenders, and 21% received two (2). Out of the home buyer respondents who did, in fact, receive more than one quote, the biggest group (39%) were aged between 18 and 34, with the second biggest group (34%) being 45 or older, and the remaining (28%) being between 35 and 44. They survey also found that borrower with lower income ere actually less likely to shop than higher-income borrowers.

As loan officers, we should not fear our competition, and so we shouldn’t fear our borrowers shopping for the best deals. Remember: if you focus on differentiating yourself and building value through benefits as opposed to just through the rate, you are much more likely to gain trust and loyalty from your borrowers. As Dale has said many times, “Be the comparison!” You want to be the loan officer that borrowers are always comparing back to. No, you won’t win every deal, but you will win more than you lose if you stick to selling benefits through multiple customized loan options instead of trying to quote the lowest rate.